Picture Perfect : A Rocketshippy Story
by Danu-chan
Summary: This all started because I was trying to describe to my cousin what I thought Jessie's wedding dress would look like. *sigh* So, yeah, it's a rocketshippy story. Yay! And it's FINALLY COMPLETED!!! ::plays fanfare:: Yay yay yay!!
1. Cafe Brak

Disclaimer: I do not own many of the things in this story. Jessie, James, Meowth, all of the towns, Together Forever, Peter the Wonder Bunny, the plot of the movie "Titanic," and the song "Albuquerque" to name a few. *sigh* Please, nobody sue me! I'm a poor high school student with no life!

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Chapter One ~ Café Brak

"That was a great ride James," sighed Jessie as she stepped out of the Meowth-shaped hot-air balloon. They had landed it in the field just north of Route 7. "Vermilion City looks beautiful at night, with all the lights reflecting off the water," she added as she remembered the sights they had seen on their trip to Celadon City, where they had now arrived. Jessie slipped her gloved hand into James's as they strolled down the city's streets. Her ankle-length, lavender evening gown swished from side to side as they walked and the red "R" necklace she wore around her neck bounced up and down with each step. Her extremely long, cherry-red hair shone in the bright moonlight. She had taken two thin strands out of their usual pulled back curl and twisted them so that a single, tightly curled strand hung on each side of her head, framing her face. Jessie smiled and glanced at James, who was tugging uncomfortably at his collar. He wasn't used to wearing a suit, but the restaurant they were going to had a strict dress code: dresses and suits only. While they were getting ready, James had jokingly asked Jessie if he could wear a dress instead, but she just whacked him with her mallet and handed him his suit. 

As they walked, he found himself staring at Jessie. She looked gorgeous from her sparkling blue eyes to her long mane of red hair to her flowing satin dress. James longed to reach out and wrap her in his arms and kiss her and tell her how much he loved her, but he couldn't. He didn't have the nerve. Not yet. Not yet? What kind of excuse was that? He had known Jessie for almost nine years and had fallen instantly in love with her at first sight. He still loved her even after all those mallet whacks and smacks and being bossed around and screamed at. But still, after all these years and times they shared, he still didn't have the strength to confess his feelings to her.

James's train of thought was interrupted by Jessie's voice.

"This is the place, right?" she asked, stopping in front of a fancy restaurant. James brushed his lavender-blue hair out of his face and looked up. The lights outside were blue-tinted and the walls were covered in marble. Extravagant patterns were carved in the walls, as was the restaurant's name: "Café Brak."

"Yeah, this is it," replied James, holding open the door for Jessie. The maître d' greeted them as they entered. He had blond hair and was wearing a black shirt with a navy blue "X" across it. He also had on black pants and navy blue gloves and boots.

He asked, "Do you have a reservation buddy?"

"Yes," James replied, "The name is 'Morgan'"

"Oh yes," the man responded as he checked off the name on the reservation list, "This way, please, buddy"

The lighting was dim as they followed the man into the depths of the restaurant. He seated them at a small table in a secluded corner. There were hardly any other customers in this part of the restaurant – only two other guests sat a few tables away. Two very familiar-looking guests.

"Hey," whispered James, "Isn't that the twerp with the Pikachu?"

"Yeah, and he's with that red-haired brat. I wonder where that weird kid who never opens his eyes is. Pikachu isn't with them either!"

"Let's go ask them where Pikachu and Squinty are! Wait… Jessie! I forgot their names."

Jessie stared at him incredulously. "It's Ash and Misty, you idiot!" she said, smacking him with a fan she seemingly pulled out of thin air. James wondered where the fan came from as he rubbed his face. Jessie stood up and began to walk over to Ash and Misty's table. Misty was talking quietly to Ash, who nodded every once in a while. Underneath the table, Misty was fidgeting with the bottom of her short, baby blue dress. She tapped her fancy, low-heeled, blue shoe on the ground and bit her lip in between her sentences. She reached up and twirled a strand of her red-orange hair around her finger. Her hair had been taken out of its normally side-swept, messy ponytail and was held behind her head by a large, pale blue bow. Ash had taken off his red and white Pokémon League Expo hat and combed his black hair so it looked halfway decent. He was wearing a suit that looked a lot like James's, except smaller. 

"Well well well. Look who's here," smirked Jessie as she stood next to Ash and Misty's table.

"Oh no! Not you again!" exclaimed Ash, standing up.

"What do you two want this time?" asked Misty, looking angry that her dinner had been interrupted. 

"Oh, nothing. We just wanted to see what you two young lovers were up to," replied Jessie. Misty and Ash simultaneously turned beet red. Jessie smiled and went on, "We also were wondering where your Pikachu and Squinty are."

Ash looked confused. "Squinty?" he muttered, "Oh! You mean Brock! Well, he stayed on Valencia Island to study Pokémon with Professor Ivy. Pikachu is back in Pallet Town with my mom. And Misty and I… We are just…"

"Ash asked me if I wanted to go out to dinner with him and I accepted 'cause I like him and we came here and that's what we're 'up to,'" burst out Misty.

James sighed, "Aww… How sweet! The twerps are in love!"

Ash was annoyed. "What do you guys want anyway? Pikachu isn't here, so you can just leave us alone!"

"We're not here for Pikachu for once," smiled Jessie, "Our Boss gave us two weeks off, so James and I decided to come to dinner here. We're staying in a hotel on Cinnabar Island. That's where Meowth is now, in case you were wondering."

"Mmhmm. Well gee, that was a great story Jessie. Misty and I have to leave now. Um… you wanted to… eh… go shopping, right Mist?"

"But Ash… you hate shop-"

"Come on, Misty!" Ash hissed through clenched teeth as he practically dragged Misty out of the restaurant. 

"Bye Team Rocket!" she called as they turned the corner and disappeared from sight. 

"Good. Now that they're gone, we can have this whole part of the restaurant to ourselves," huffed Jessie as she slid back into her chair and picked up her menu. She frowned as she read it over. "Don't they have anything besides French food?" she complained.

"I want chicken fingers," moaned James.

"James, this is a fancy and expensive French restaurant," Jessie explained as if she were talking to a three-year-old, "They don't serve chicken fingers here."

"Do they have grilled cheese?" James asked tentatively.

Sighing, Jessie turned to the sandwich page. "They have a grilled ham and cheese sandwich called a crow-cue-eey mon-see-your," she read.

"But I don't _want_ ham on my grilled cheese sandwich," whined James.

Jessie sighed again. James was acing like a little kid. Come to think of it, he was always acting like a little kid. He always had an immature, childish attitude, but he was adorable. That was one of the reasons why she loved him.

"Ooh ooh ooh Jessie! I know what I want!" cried a very excited James, "French fries!"

Jessie stared at him like he was nuts.

"You know, French fries. I mean, this is a French restaurant and they are French fries, so they should have French fries here, right Jessie? Jessie?"

Jessie was holding her head in her hands and shaking it back and forth as if to say 'He's really lost it.'

James was concerned. "Is something wrong Jessie?" he asked worriedly, "Do you have a headache or something?"

"What?" She looked up, "Oh no…no…" she mumbled, "I just… you don't really want to be here, do you James?"

James shifted uncomfortably in his stiff chair. "Well, I never really liked anything that was too fancy. It's all just too uptight and you can't relax. I guess that's one of the main reasons why I ran away from home. Life on the high-end of society is not as much fun as most people think. Every single thing had to be done the proper and mannerly way, or else you were a disgrace. Everything has to be absolutely perfect and there's too much pressure. I wasn't really keen on coming to this restaurant, but I thought you would like it." James bit his lip.

A smile spread across Jessie's face. Poor James had chose a restaurant he didn't even want to go to just to please her. "Thank you James, really. This restaurant is beautiful and it looks like a really nice place, but it's just too classy for the infamous Team Rocket. I mean, whoever heard of escargot?" At this, James grinned. Jessie stood up from her chair and so did James. "Come on. Let's go," she said as she clasped James's hand and they walked out of Café Brak feeling even happier than they had when they came in.


	2. The St. Stephen

Chapter Two ~ The St

Chapter Two ~ _The St. Stephen_

"Well now what?" questioned Jessie, "We need to have some kind of dinner."

"I don't know Jess. I have no idea what we could eat."

"I'm hungry," Jessie complained as she rubbed her growling stomach. She added, "We better think of something fast. It's not like good ideas just come and smack you in the face."

With her words, a loose flyer flew down the street and hit her in the face. "Ouch!" she cried and picked up the fallen flyer. "Or maybe they do…"

James peered over Jessie's shoulder, but he couldn't see the writing on the paper. "What does it say Jessie?" he asked, still trying to see the paper.

"It's about a boat cruise. A dinner cruise. It's called 'Evening on the St. Stephen,'" Jessie read, "It says they serve a buffet style dinner and they have a DJ right on the ship. The ship travels to Cinnabar Island, so it will be a nice way to get back to the hotel." Jessie gasped. "And the tickets are only $40 each! That's a LOT cheaper than dinner would've been at Café Brak! I say we do it."

"But what will we do with the Meowth balloon?"

"Um… we can leave it in Vermilion City, since that's where the ship is leaving from. We have to hurry though, since it's launching in only half an hour."

"We can't leave the Meowth balloon in Vermilion!" protested James, "let's park it on the boat."

"I don't care what we do but we have to leave right now!"

Jessie began to run towards Route 7 to retrieve the balloon. James followed a few steps behind. Once they had taken off, Jessie sank to the bottom of the balloon basket in exhaustion. James slouched down next to her. Too exhausted from the run down Route 7 to talk, Jessie just reached over and held James's hand for the entire ride to Vermilion City. By the time they arrived, Jessie had regained her energy. She landed the balloon right next to the ticket booth and got out. James followed. And old, gray haired man was sitting in the booth reading Time magazine. He had his feet up on his desk and was leaning back in his chair. James rang the bell to get his attention. The man jumped up, startled. 

"Sorry to surprise you, but we would like two tickets for the Dinner and Dancing cruise that's' leaving in five minutes," explained James.

The old man muttered something about 'lousy late people' as he ripped two small green tickets from a roll. "That will be $80 please," he said out loud. James reached into his pocket and pulled out three crumpled twenty-dollar bills.

"Oh no!" he groaned, "Jessie, I only have $60."

"I think I can cover the rest," she replied, promptly whipping her thin wallet out of her dress's tiny pocket. Along with a few other bills, she discovered a ten, a five, and five singles, which she fished out and handed to James who gave them to the old man along with his three twenties.

"And here are your tickets," the man grumbled as he turned over the green papers.

Jessie glanced at the Meowth balloon and turned back to the man in the booth. "Excuse me, sir?" she began, "We have a hot air balloon. Can we park it somewhere on the ship?"

The man started to mutter under his breath again, but he replied that they could as long as they deflated it. James and Jessie thanked him and left. They quickly deflated the Meowth-head balloon, then dragged the whole thing behind them as they walked up the entry ramp. At the top was a young, brown-haired man. He was a member of the ship's crew, so he wore a red shirt with blue sleeves. Gold designs decorated the front of the shirt. He wore nice blue pants and a tired, forced smile was pasted under weary eyes. "Tickets please," he told Jessie and James as they reached him. James handed him the small green strips. "Thank you. Have a nice evening on the St. Stephen," the man droned on monotonously. Anyone could tell it had been a long day.

Jessie caught James's eye and nodded towards the man, then at the balloon. James nodded in response to signal that he understood. Then he turned to the man and cleared his throat.

"Uh, do you have a place for us to stow our, um, hot air balloon?" he asked.

"Yeah, over…" he started, then his eyes widened. "Wait… did you say a hot air balloon?!"

"Mm hmm."

"Um, yeah, well, I guess we can stow it in the cargo hold for you."

"Okay," James replied, "Where should we leave it?"

"Right here on the deck. I'll call some crew members to carry it down for you."

The man still looked flabbergasted as he crossed the deck and picked up a house phone. He punched in three numbers and leaned against the wall. Jessie and James looked at each other, not knowing what to do. The man put his hand over the mouthpiece of the phone. "You two can go. Just find me when the ship docks." Jessie nodded and they began to follow the signs to the ballroom, where the flyer said the dinner was. As they turned the corner, they heard the man begin to speak.

"Hello… It's Jack… yes… well two people just brought this hot air balloon onto the ship and- what?… yes, a hot air balloon… I don't know, I thought I'd seen everything, but a _hot air balloon_…" His voice faded away. Jessie began to laugh.

"Did you see the look on that guy's face when we told him we had a hot air balloon? He looked like he had never even seen one before!"

James laughed too. "I don't think his expression would've changed if we told him that he won one million dollars!"

They both giggled until they reached the ballroom doors. When James pushed open the doors, Jessie's laugh turned into a gasp of surprise. The room was huge. The color of everything – from the floor to the ceiling, the tables to the lights – was either beige or gold. The glamour of the whole room struck Jessie as indescribable. She stared in awe at the room.

James was confused. "What's so great about this room, Jess?"

"It's beautiful! It's huge! It's-"

"…about as big as my kitchen was," James cut her off as he crossed his arms.

"You were rich!" exclaimed Jessie, "Your house was huge. My house? We had one room. We didn't have indoor plumbing. We had an outhouse in our backyard. I had to eat snow, since that was all we could afford! Jeez, your dumb DOG'S house was five times bigger than mine!"

"Sorry Jessie. I guess I… forgot." James hung his head and dragged his foot in a circle on the floor. He kept forgetting that Jessie had been poor when she was little. She didn't usually mention it, probably because she hated her childhood. One of her few happy memories were the "snowgasbords" her mother made her in the winter. The "snowgasbords" included everything from snow sushi to snow pudding. James was even surprised that- 

"May I help you?" came a voice interrupting James's thoughts. Standing in front of him was a stern-looking man in the same uniform as the one who asked for their tickets.

"We'd like a table for two, please," spoke up Jessie.

"All right," said the man, glancing around, "Ah, there's an empty one." He began to lead Jessie and James to a small round table right next to a dance floor… and right next to a familiar and unwanted face.

"Is that…" James started.

Jessie finished for him, "The Boss!"

"But what is he doing here?" wondered James. He and Jessie sat down at the table and continued to stare. Three days ago, when Giovanni had called them and said they had two weeks off, they were overjoyed. Two whole weeks free of failing, free of electric shocks, free of bumps, bruises, and Band-Aids…and free of their boss's cold, hard face. And now here he was, sitting less than three feet away from them, talking quickly and quietly on a cell phone. His back was to them, so he didn't see Jessie and James gaping at him.

"But why-" began James.

"Shh!" hissed Jessie with a hurried glance at Giovanni, "He'll hear us!"

"Oh, right." James nodded and continued to look at the drink menu in silence. There were no drinks at the buffet table. After doing "Eenie Meanie Miney Moe" a few times, James decided to order a Coke while Jessie chose a raspberry iced tea. As they sat waiting for their drinks, James began to make a fortune teller our of his paper napkin. Jessie was re-applying her red lipstick and looking in her compact mirror. The sound of glass shattering made them jump. Jessie peered over her mirror to see Giovanni standing there staring at them harshly with a broken plate lying at his feet.

"What are you two doing here?" he demanded.

Before James could answer, Jessie replied, "We pose that very same question to you!"

"Why am I here?" blinked Giovanni, "Well, I learned that, if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself."

Jessie and James were bewildered.

Giovanni continued, rubbing his index finger and thumb together. "I've already devised a plan. A plan which cannot fail. Since every single one of my pathetic teams has let me down, I decided to undertake this mission alone."

"So what's the plan?" asked James.

"Why should I tell you bumbling idiots?" sneered Giovanni. Jessie glared at him. "Besides," he went on, "the plan is far too complex for amazingly simple minds like yours."

Smiling, James laughed, "Hey! He said our minds were amazing! Did you hear that Jess?" Jessie and Giovanni both rolled their eyes.

"Anyway… I can't tell you my plan, but I will give you some advice: don't be near the front of the ship at ten o'clock," the Boss concluded.

"Why not?"

Before Giovanni could answer because the waitress came back to Jessie and James's table.

"Here are your drinks. You can go to the buffet table now."

"Thanks," mumbled Jessie. She whipped her head back around for her Boss's response to her question, but alas! Giovanni was gone!


	3. Dinner and Dancing

Chapter 3 ~ Dinner & Dancing

Chapter 3 ~ _Dinner & Dancing_

"But where did he go?" wondered Jessie. His disappearance troubled her as did his warning about being near the ship's bow at ten. "What could he have meant?"

James laid his hand on her arm. "Don't worry about it, Jess. We're here to have a good time; don't let the Boss ruin it." He smiled, "Now let's eat."

Standing, Jessie grinned back. "Okay."

They walked over to the buffet table and James's eyes widened. Spread before them was almost every type of food imaginable. There was everything from sushi to hamburgers, wonton soup to tomato soup. Indian food, American food, Chinese food, French food, Japanese food, and Spanish food. Teriyaki, salad, rice, mousse, tempura, pancakes, hot dogs, crepes, and… 

"Chicken fingers!" exclaimed James. Then his eyes grew wide. "And… and… DONUTS!" James was practically drooling at all the food they had. He took three plates and piled them high with a helping of every food there, topping it off with 17 donuts. Jessie looked at James's overflowing plates in disgust.

"How can you actually eat that much?!" She took just one plate and went around the buffet tables sampling a few appetizing dishes. Her weakness was the sushi, though, and she took a large serving of each of the rolls they had to offer. Jessie walked back to their table where James had spread out his heaping plates. He was already finished with his whole first plate by the time Jessie sat down.

"What do you do – inhale the food?" she asked as she dipped her first California roll into the soy sauce.

James smiled, "Yup!" Then he caught sight of Jessie's pile of sushi, and wrinkled his nose. "Eww! You actually like that stuff? It tastes like … cat food!"

"Then why did you take some James?" she asked, eyeing one of James's overfull plates.

"Because I had to take everything they had. Besides, that is the plate of the things I don't like, but I am going to eat anyway."

Jessie rolled her eyes and continued to eat her sushi..

When they were finally done eating (James had gone up for two more plates), Jessie sat back in her chair. "You know, that was a great meal. Filling too."

"What do you mean filling?" asked James, stuffing the last of a donut into his mouth, "You only had two plates of food and a slice of Key Lime Pie!" How can you be full?"

"Not everyone is blessed with your unique ability to eat five plates of food and still be hungry, James."

"Really? Anyway, what do we do now that they closed the buffet table? It's only…" James glanced at his watch. "9:45 and we won't reach Cinnabar Island for an hour."

"Well," replied Jessie, "We could dance." She looked over at the dance floor next to them. There were already many people dancing across the large oak floor. A DJ was playing a variety of songs from his stand by the wall. 

"Oh I don't know Jess," James blushed.

Before either of them could say anything, the DJ's voice rang above the noise in the room. "And that was Don McLean's _American Pie_, what a classic. Well I would again like to welcome you all to the St. Stephen. I'm your DJ Eric and here's your next song: _Picture Perfect_ by Angela Via.

The song began. It was a slightly fast-paced song and Jessie and James, like everyone else in the room, began to listen to it…

"_All of this time/Guess I must have been blind/Not to see you and me/We're picture perfect_

Now baby we've been friends/For such a long, long time/We've been through lessons and we've been through cries…"

Jessie sighed. The song reminded her so much of her and James. "Come on James!" said Jessie, pulling James out of his seat. "We HAVE to dance! Pleeeease?"

"Oh all right." James smiled and walked out to the center of the dance floor with Jessie. He spun her under his outstretched arm, then pulled her close and wrapped his arms around her waist. Jessie flung her hands behind James's neck.

__

"…It took so long to reveal but now I know that/All of this time, guess I must have been blind/Not to see you and me we're picture perfect

I'll be yours, be mine/We're picture perfect/Forever picture perfect

My heart keeps tellin' me/Make up your mind about whatcha mean/You've been holding back for too long/You know it makes good sense/Best of lovers are the best of friends/I guess we should have known all along…"

They danced, spinning and swaying the entire length of the song. _Picture Perfect_ touched Jessie. She felt like it was trying to send her some kind of message. It was exactly how she felt about James.

"That was terrific James," remarked Jessie when the song ended, "I didn't know you could dance."

"Thanks Jess."

The DJ began to speak again. "What great dancing out there! Now, for a change of pace, here's a slow song. This song topped the charts for a while and is a favorite among both country and pop music fans. So here's Lonestar's hit, _Amazed._"

Jessie turned to James and raised her eyebrows. "A slow song." She grinned. "Let's do it."

James smiled back and rewrapped his arms around her waist. Jessie clasped her hands behind James back and hugged him close. She rested her head on his chest and shut her eyes. This was how she wanted it to be. She wanted to show James how much she loved him. And, well, dancing was the first step anyway. The rocked back and forth to the slow beat of the song, hugging each other tightly like they had so many times before.

__

"Every time our eyes meet

This feeling inside me

Is almost more than I can take.

Baby when you touch me

I can feel how much you love me

And it just blows me away.

I've never been this close to anyone or anything.

I can hear your thoughts.

I can see your dreams.

I don't know how you do what you do,

I'm so in love with you.

It just keeps getting better.

I wanna spend the rest of my life

With you by my side

Forever and ever.

Every little thing that you do,

Baby, I'm amazed by you…"

When the final chords of the song played, Jessie and James loosened their grips. Jessie looked up and her eyes met James's. His emerald eyes looked even more beautiful than they ever had. No words seemed right for this moment. Instead, Jessie tilted her head ever so slightly. Her lips parted and she let her eyes close naturally. She leaned in closer to James and sensed him moving closer to her. This was it! The moment they had both been waiting for for such a long time! Their noses were almost touching. 

Closer…

Closer…

BOOM!


	4. Titanic?

Chapter 3 ~ Dinner & Dancing

Chapter 4 ~ _Titanic?_

An explosion from the front of the ship rocked the ground and sent everyone falling to the floor.

"Ruined!" thought Jessie, "Our perfect moment: ruined! And we were so close, so close!" She was almost sure James was thinking the same thing, but she didn't dare mention it. Instead, she exclaimed, "What was that?"

"I don't know," replied James, rubbing his head, "It felt like some kind of explosion from the direction of the front of the ship."

The words 'front of the ship' rung a bell in Jessie's mind. Her eyes lit up. "Quick James, what time is it?"

"Uh 10:02, why?"

"I knew it! Remember what the Boss said?"

"About what?"

"About the front of the ship and ten o'clock!"

"When?"

"When we were talking to him here before!"

A dim light bulb in James's mind brightened, "Toilets!"

"**_WHAT_**?"

"Oh, um, I mean… what were we talking about?"

"The BOSS and the FRONT of the SHIP!"

"Oh yeah! About not being near that front of the ship at ten!" James was confused. "But how could he have known that someone put an explosive there?"

Jessie groaned, "James, HE planted the bomb or whatever it was!"

"Ohhhhh! I understand!"

"Slow…" Jessie murmured under her breath.

"What was that Jess?"

"Um… I said let's go!"

"Where?"

"Up to the deck."

"Why?"

Jessie sighed. "Stop asking questions, just come."

Following the hallways and climbing the stairs, Jessie and James gradually made their way to the boat deck. When they got there, Jessie cried, "Oh my gosh."

The entire bow of the ship was submerged under water and the deck was already at a tilt. Crew members were handing out life preservers and everyone was milling about in a general panic. It looked a lot like a movie scene. An awful lot like a movie scene, in fact. But what movie…? Suddenly James got it: _Titanic._ He looked over at Jessie. She didn't seem to notice the resemblance.

"This could be fun…" thought James.

"What's going on here?" Jessie asked, glancing at James. He put on his best worried face.

"The ship is sinking and there aren't enough boats," James explained, "Half the people on this ship are going to die."

Confused, Jessie asked, "What?"

James didn't answer, he just pushed Jessie towards a lifeboat that was quickly filling up. "Get in the boat Jess."

"But James-"

"Go! I've got my own boat to catch."

As Jessie sat down in the lifeboat, she looked at James, still on the St. Stephen. Something was vaguely familiar about what James was saying. Something about the whole atmosphere, actually. It was just like… something clicked in Jessie's head. _Titanic_. Boy was she going to get James for this. She rose to get out of the boat, but it had already started to lower. Looking up at James who was watching her from the boat deck, she grinned. As the lifeboat passed the second floor of a ship, she noticed an open window. On impulse, she jumped through it. Behind her, she heard screams and, from above, cries of "Jessie!" She began to run towards the stairs.

"Jessie!" James called again. Turning from the deck rail he ran towards the stairs. While he ran, he wondered, "Does Jessie actually like me and escape from the boat because she didn't want to leave me and escape from the boat because she didn't want to leave me? Maybe she caught onto the _Titanic_ thing and was just acting with the movie. Or maybe-" His thoughts were cut off when he ran right into Jessie at the foot of the stairs.

"Ouch!" James screeched, rubbing his nose. Then, remembering, he cleared his throat and grabbed Jessie's hands. "Why did you do that, why?"

Jessie smiled and tried not to laugh. "You jump, I jump, right?"

"Right."

"Oh God. I couldn't go. I couldn't go James." She said, hugging him.

Before they could recite anything else, the ship groaned and lurched.

"Come on," instructed Jessie, "We have to get back to the deck."

After climbing the staircase and emerging on the deck, James discovered something and reported it to Jessie. 

"What do you mean there are no lifeboats left?!" she cried.

"Exactly what I said. There are no lifeboats." 

"What are we supposed to do now?"

James thought for a moment. "I have an idea." He grabbed Jessie's hand and pulled her towards the stern of the ship. Climbing was a struggle since the deck was at a large tilt. Maybe even 45 degrees. Reaching the end of the boat, they grabbed onto the white rail encircling the ship.

Looking over at the deep blue sea far below, James swallowed hard. Then, he noticed a single lifeboat filled completely with Pokémon and only one man.

"Hey, isn't that the Boss?" James pondered.

Jessie squinted her eyes in the direction of the strange boat. "Yeah! And he has all those rare Pokémon! That's probably why he bombed the ship! To distract everyone so he could steal all the Pokémon! I'm a genius!" She attempted to strike a powerful pose while still gripping the boat rail.

"Wow! How'd you figure that out so fast?"

"Elementary, my dear James."

James was puzzled.

Jessie ignored this and continued, "And James?"

"What?"  
"Uh, wouldn't it be much easier on the writer if we just jumped off this floating hunk of metal instead of hanging here and completely reenacting the last hour of Titanic?"

"Yes, I guess it would." He suddenly looked alarmed. "Wait! We cant!"

"Why not?"

"The fall alone will kill you, remember?"

Jessie sighed. "You know, this isn't the Titanic, James. It's the St. Stephen. We aren't going to die. This ship is, like, less than half the size of the Titanic."

"But-"

"However, James, we will drown if we're weighed down by all these clothes." 

James raised his eyebrows and widened his eyes. "What are you implying?"

"Well, I would suggest we remove our extraneous clothing so we can swim," Jessie replied, adding an emphasis to "extraneous"!

"Oh," James said with a slight tone of disappointment in his voice.

They both pulled themselves over the railing and precariously perched on the other side. Jessie kicked her shows into the water. She pulled off her gloves and stockings, and dropped them into the water as well. Finally, she slipped her dress off, pulling it over her head.

"Jessie?" James asked, "Why are you wearing your uniform?"

Under Jessie's dress was her tight, white Team Rocket skirt and her short black tank top. She was, however, not wearing the white jacket.

Jessie examined her outfit and replied, "We were in a hurry getting ready. I figured it would be easier just to keep this on. The jacket would've stock out though." Then she looked over at James. "Why are you still dressed?" 

"Oh, uh…" James mumbled. He had been watching her instead if changing. She looked so graceful when she got dressed or undressed. Her moves were so smooth, so fluent. He always watched her when she changed into one of the many costumes they wore. It had become a habit by now. But could he tell her any of this? No. He finally came up with the lame excuse: "I was thinking."

"That could be dangerous for someone of your mental capacity, James. Now move!"

James quickly ripped off his shows, socks, jacket, shirt, and pants. Jessie noticed something strange.

"James, please help me to understand this. I at least have a reason to be wearing my uniform, but why, for the love of God, are you wearing a swimsuit?"

James looked down and blushed. Then a startled expression appeared on his face. "God, if I'm wearing my swimsuit now, what did I wear to the pool last night?"

Jessie had to literally bite her lip to keep herself from bursting out laughing. "James, it's okay," she comforted, "Now come one. We have to jump."

Eyeing the deep blue water far below, James got worried. "Are you sure this is going to work?'

"Of course I'm sure." Thinking quickly, she added, "We're gonna make it James, trust me."

"I trust you!" James yelled, over-dramatically. "And I thought we were forgetting the whole Titanic thing."

"We are, I just… I mean … oh forget it. Come on." Jessie balanced herself on the thin metal bars. She grabbed James' hand. "One…"

"Two…" James nervously added.

"Three!" Jessie cried. She bent her knees and prepared to jump.

"Wait!" James yelled, "I thought we were going to ten!"

"No, James. Three."

"Oh, okay. One…"

"Two…"

There was a silence. Jessie sighed. "Say three James."

"Oh! Fine," he whispered, "three."

Letting go of James' hand, Jessie reached behind James and gave him a push. His balance was thrown off and he fell towards the water. "AAAAHHH!" he screamed flapping his arms wildly. Jessie stood on the bars laughing. James hit the water with a huge splash and went under. He came up, coughing and sputtering.

"That wasn't fair Jessie!" he screamed.

Jessie just laughed again and steadied herself on the edge of the rail, She bent her knees and jumped. In her jump, she did a flip, then a twist, and finally assumed a dive position. She broke the surface with barely a splash. Surfacing, she took a big breath and looked at James. He was staring at her.

"What was that?!" he cried.

Jessie grinned. "A front one-and-one-half with a full twist."

James blinked. "A what?"

"It's a kind of dive."

"When did you learn to do that?"

"Back when we were in Pokémon Tech," Jessie replied, shuddering at the school's name, "One of the electives I chose was diving. I didn't really learn much before we were expelled, but diving was a pretty straight forward class."

"Oh. I took ballet."

Jessie snickered, "Ballet?" What did you learn there?"

"Plenty," James defended, "I can show you a soute, pas de barre routine we learned when we get out of this water."

"Speaking of getting out of this water, we should start swimming. Do you have any idea where we are?"

James looked around. "Nothing but water in every direction and no way to tell which direction to go."

"Hey! You got that from episode 17, 'Pokémon Shipwreck'!" cried Jessie.

"Well I didn't say it then, the twerp did, so I'm not reusing my lines."

Jessie sighed. "Well, let's just swim to the left then."

"No!" yelled James, "Right! Right is the right direction to go if we want to be right. Wait…" James was really confused.

"James, let's just go straight."

"Fine." James was too mixed up to argue.

They swam off, not having any idea where they were headed.

"Moon crystal power!" Serena cried as she held up her compact and began to transform into Sailor Moon.

Serena's cry was soon followed by, "Mercury star power!"

"Mars star power!"

"Jupiter star power!"

and "Venus star power!" as the other scouts transformed. More "creeps" from the Negaverse had confronted the scouts. There was no choice except to beat them.

After the scouts had transformed, they ran to the Negabeast.

"Hey, Nega-creep!" Sailor Moon called out, "You'll never beat us. I'm Sailor Moon, champion of justice. I will right wrongs and triumph over evil – and that means you."

"You Sailor brats are no match for me and dark powers!" responded the Nega-enemy.

"Oh yeah? Just watch us!" Sailor Jupiter replied.

"Mercury bubble blast!" yelled Sailor Mercury, firing her bubble attack. The Nega-villain dodged the attack.

"Try and match this!" called the villain. A brilliant purple light shot from its finger. It hit all of the Sailor Scouts and they fell to the ground. "Hahaha!"

Sailor Venus held her head. "I feel so drained."

"Me too," replied Sailor Mars.

"The Nega-monster cackled, "I have drained you all of your energy and your powers! What will you do against me now? Nothing! Hahaha!"

"I know!" Jupiter cried weakly, "Let's use our Pokémon!"

"Yeah!" the other scouts agreed.

"What?" asked the Nega-confused thing, "What's a Pokémon?"

"Where have you been?" asked Sailor Moon, "Like, under a rock or something?"

"Pokémon is the new "hot fad." informed Sailor Mars.

"We just had to join in and try to 'catch 'em all'!" laughed Sailor Mercury.

Sailor Venus worried, "I hope it doesn't become more popular than 

Sailor V!"

"Anyway," Jupiter took a red and white Pokéball off of her belt, "Go Raichu!"

A large brown and yellow mouse appeared and yelled, "Rai!"

Mercury grabbed her Pokéball. "Squirtle, I choose you!"

"Squirtle!" cried the tiny turtle.

"Vulpix, go!" called Mars.

Her six-tailed fox said, "Vullll!"

"I choose Jynx!" Venus added.

Jynx, the "human shape Pokémon," sang, "Jynx, Jynx!"

"And I choose Eevee!" concluded Sailor Moon, "Go!"

"Vee!" cried the small fox-like thing.

"What's that?" asked the Nega-bully, "A stuffed animal?"

Sailor Moon was angry. "A stuffed animal? We'll show that Nega-creep! Come on scouts!"

"Raichu, thunder!"

"Squirtle, water gun!"

"Vulpix, flame thrower!"  
"Jynx, lovely kiss!"

"Eevee, quick attack!"

All the Pokémon combined their attacks and hit the Nega-enemy.

"What? This can't be!" the villain screamed as it flew into the sky and disappeared with a "ding!"

The scouts all hugged their Pokémon. "Thanks, guys!" they said, "We never could've done this with you!"


	5. The Vermilion Holiday Inn (where the tow...

Chapter One ~ La Belle Café

Chapter Five ~ The Vermilion Holiday Inn (where the towels are oh so fluffy!)

"No!" Jessie screamed, "We can NOT be back in Vermilion City!" Upon arriving on a shore, Jessie had inspected a nearby road sign and come to a horrible conclusion. "Two hours and two chapters – wasted! And look at my hair! I am never going swimming again!" 

Jessie was throwing a fit. 45 minutes of swimming had brought them back to where they started. As if that wasn't bad enough, the water had ruined Jessie's perm. Her dripping hair hung straight, falling around her knees.

"I'm hungry," whined James, "I want to go back tot he hotel."

"So do I. Let's just take the-" Jessie put her hand over her mouth. "Oh no!"

"What?"

"The Meowth balloon. It was on the ship. The ship sank. The balloon is gone along with all our stuff we brought."

"Oh no!" James's eyes filled with tears. "My… my…"

"What James?"

"My rose!" James burst out crying.

"Your rose?" Jessie sighed. "It's not that important James."

James nodded. "Yes it is." He wiped his eyes and looked at Jessie. "You gave it to me, remember?"

Closing her eyes, Jessie thought back to when she first met James…

***

Jessie ran through the falling snow. Tears blurred her vision as she tried to get as far away from home as she could. She clutched only a single possession – a silk rose. Her mother had given it to her when she was born and it was one of the few things her cruel father hadn't taken away yet. 

In her nearly blind running, Jessie tripped over a bump in the road. Wiping her eyes and looking back, she noticed the bump was actually a snow-covered boy. She crawled over to him, still clutching the rose, and brushed the snow off his body. He wore fairly nice clothes that were in deep contrast to Jessie's raggedy brown dress. The boy's lavender hair fell over his face. Jessie rolled the boy onto his back and examined his face. His eyes were closed and his lips matched his hair. His face felt icy. He looked about Jessie's age. To Jessie, he was pretty attractive.

"Better get him warm," Jessie thought. She grabbed his almost frozen hand and dragged him under a nearby store's awning. After a quick search, Jessie found a few sticks and started a weak fire. "Good enough," she said. She held the boy's hands near the tiny fire. Color slowly began to return to them. After about half an hour, the boy felt reasonably warm. Jessie looked at him. His eyes fluttered open.

"Huh? What?" His eyes met Jessie's. "Who are you?"

"My name is Jessica Woodson, but everyone calls me Jessie."

"All right Jessie. I'm James Morgan. Thanks for saving me." James fished into his pocket and pulled out two large, green, circular earrings. "Here. You can have these as a... token of my appreciation. They were my mother's. I took them before I left."

"Thanks James. Nobody's ever given me a gift before. Well, except for my mom." She held out her treasured silk rose. "Here James. This rose is for you."

"What's this for?"

"It's a present, silly."

James took the rose. "Thank you. I'll never forget this Jessie..."

***

Jessie's mind slowly drifted back to the present. Her eyes were teary from the memory. She couldn't let her feeling show though. Hiding her eyes, she snapped, "Oh James, it doesn't matter. It was just a stupid rose anyway. We have much more important things to worry about now. We have to think of a way to get back to Cinnabar Island."

"Can we do it tomorrow Jessie?" James yawned, "It's almost midnight!"

Now that Jessie thought about it, she was really tired. She looked around. "Well, it is late. And this is a city. There has to be a cheap motel or something somewhere." She and James slowly walked closer to the heart of Vermilion City. 

The glare of neon lights suddenly caught James's eye. "There!" They ran up to the door. An inscription on the glass read "Vermilion Holiday Inn." Jessie and James stepped inside. They walked up to the check-in desk. Standing behind the desk was a woman in her late twenties. She had curly red hair that fell on her shoulders. The pin on her hotel uniform read "Hi, my name is Amy" and was decorated with gold star stickers.

"May I help you?" Amy asked.

"Yes," Jessie replied, "We'd like the cheapest room you have."

After some discussion and deliberation, Jessie handed over $35 for the off-season room. They received the key and walked past the identical hotel doors.

"Number four… number six… eight… TEN?! Where's nine?" James was alarmed. "Our room's missing!"

Groaning, Jessie pointed to a door on the other side of the hallway. It was adorned with a gold number "9."

"Oh," James said. Perking up, he cried, "Ooh! Can I open the door? Can I? Can I?" Jessie sighed and handed him the card key. After 47 attempts, James finally got the door open and they stepped into the room.

Room nine was small. Very small. There was one bed, a small window, and an even smaller television set. The closet looked like it could hold about half a jacket at the most.

"We're stuck in this junky room? Aargh!" Jessie yelled. "Although there could be some advantages having James sleeping two inches away from me…" she added silently.

"It's only one night, Jess. Now come on. I'm so tired. It's already 12:30. We need sleep if we want to have the energy to get all the way back to Cinnabar."

Jessie was too tired to argue. She nodded in response to James and flopped down on one side of the bed. James lay down next to her and they both fell asleep almost immediately.

Jessie dreamed that she was the little mermaid, Ariel. She swam around with an annoying catfish named Meownder and tried to get the blue-haired Prince Eric to fall in love with her.

James dreamed of dancing donuts singing "Louie, Louie."

When they woke up in the morning, Jessie groaned. "I am never watching "The Little Mermaid" again."

James smiled and sang, "A Louie Louie…"

"What?"

"Oh, well, see, in my dream last night there were these dancing donuts and-"

"Dancing donuts?!" Jessie exclaimed, "You know what? I don't want to know." She began to walk towards the room's minute bathroom. "I have to take a shower."

"No!" cried James, "Me first!" He ran to the bathroom and closed the door.

"Someone's a little pushy today."

"I heard that!" James leaned his head out of the door. He stuck out his tongue and pulled down his lower eyelid. "Ha ha!" Shutting the door again, he locked it.

Jessie heard the water start. Then she heard a shriek and a crash, followed by a yell of "I'm o-kay!" Jessie sighed and rolled her eyes. Flicking on the TV, Jessie scanned the channels. After going through all 12 they received, she finally settled on the Spanish channel. "Blues Clues" was on and Steve was singing about "La Pistas De Blue."

"Ohhhh! I've seen this one already," Jessie complained when Steve found the first "pista," popsicle sticks. Roughly 25 minutes later, Jessie screamed at the TV, "Orange juice ice pops Steve! Aargh! It's so easy!"

Steve gave his guess for what Blue's surprise was. The pictures above him demonstrated his guess. 

"WHAT?" Jessie yelled, "What kind of a guess was that?! Blue is smarter than you are for crying out loud!" She fell backwards on the bed in exasperation. 

"Getting a little into the show Jess?" James had chosen that moment to emerge from the bathroom. A towel was wrapped around his waist and he was holding an almost dry swimsuit.

Jessie reddened and quickly switched off the TV. "I think I'll take my shower now."

"Jessie?"

"Yeah?"

"The towels are oh so fluffy!"

Jessie slowly nodded. "Riiiiiight…" She took a quick, very warm shower, during which she sang Blue's Clues songs. Afterwards, she drew a small heart in the corner of the fogged-up mirror. Inside the heart, she wrote "JW + JM." She smiled as she looked at it, then wrapped herself in a fluffy, white towel.

"Hmm… James was right," she thought, "These towels are oh so fluffy."


	6. Journeys

Chapter One ~ La Belle Café

Chapter Six ~ _Journeys_

Forty minutes later, Jessie and James finally checked out of the hotel. It had been absolutely necessary to watch "Sailor Moon" before they left. Following the show, Jessie and James had had an extensive argument about who was the better Sailor Scout – Sailor Moon or Sailor Jupiter. This ended with Jessie kicking James and screaming, "Sailor Moon is better!"

"No, Sailor Jupiter is so cool!" James swung fists at her.

Jessie kicked him again and ran out the door.

Once the pair had left the Inn, Jessie announced, "We need other clothes."

James shrugged. "I thought we were fine in these."

"James! You're wearing a swimsuit!"

"Oh yeah." He thought for a minute. "Okay, fine."

Grabbing his arm, Jessie dragged James to the Old Navy down the street. 20 minutes later, Jessie was wearing capris, sneakers, and a flowered tee shirt. James proudly displayed his new Par-a-Pants, sneakers, and blue Old-Navy-logo tee shirt.

"Um, I have to go… get something," Jessie told James, "You can go and…" She glanced around her. "Meet me at that Dunkin' Donuts."

James eyes lit up. "Donuts!!" He skipped off singing the Old Navy Par-a-Pants commercial jingle.

Turning, Jessie walked to the 1-800-FLOWERS shop around the corner. Stepping up to the counter, she purchased a single red rose.

James, meanwhile, was facing a dilemma.

"Do you have any glazed donuts?" he asked.

"No, we're outta glazed donuts," responded the bored Dunkin' Donuts employee.

"Any jelly donuts?"

"No, we're outta jelly donuts."

"Bavarian crème filled donuts?"

"No."

"Cinnamon rolls?"

"No."

"Apple fritters?"

"No."

"Bear claws?!" James was desperate.

The man went to check and came back with the response, "No, we're outta bear claws."

James thought for a second. "In that case…" he began, "In that case what do you have?"

The employee smiled.

***

Jessie no sooner left the flower shop when she heard screams coming from the Dunkin' Donuts vicinity. She put her rose wherever she keeps her mallet, fan, frying pan, and Pokéballs and ran down the street. Turning the corner, she discovered James covered with weasels. He was screaming, waving his arms, and running and running and running like a constipated wiener dog. Jessie approached him and said, "Hey, you've got weasels on your face."

James stopped screaming and running. "Gee, thanks for noticing, Jess," he groaned sarcastically.

After helping him pick off the one dozen crazed weasels, Jessie asked, "What happened?"

"Well," James explained, they were out of everything at Dunkin' Donuts. All they had left was, and I quote, _one dozen starving, crazed weasels_. So I took the box and I opened up the lid and the weasels jumped out and they immediately latched onto my face and started biting me all over!" James began making gnawing noises.

Jessie cut him off. "Okay, that's… interesting James. Can we get going now?"

"Which way?'

"That way!" Jessie pointed right, pronouncing the "way" like "vey." (Author's note: It's from "West Side Story," okay?)

They began walking to the right. James said, "Where are we going?"

"This is the way to route 11. I figure the quickest way to Cinnabar Island would be to go down route 11, then follow routes 12, 13, 14, and 15 to Fuchsia City. From there, we can take a ten minute ferry ride to Cinnabar."

James stared at her. "How do you know all this?"

"I've been reading my official trainer's guide! The special edition for red, blue, AND yellow!" Jessie smiled proudly.

"Ooookay. Let's just go."

The pair continued walking eastward towards route 11. No sooner had they left Vermilion City when a youngster ran up to them.

"Who are you?" inquired Jessie.

"I like shorts. They are cool and comfy to wear," the youngster replied. He pulled out a Pokéball. 

"I think he wants to fight us," Jessie whispered to James.

"How? We don't have any Pokémon with us."

"I do." Jessie pulled a Pokéball from somewhere. "Go Arbok!"

"Chaaaaaaaaaarbok!" cried the purple cobra.

The youngster sent out a Pidgey. "Piiiiiiiiiii!" it screeched when it saw the Arbok.

"Arbok, bite!"

"Chaaaaar!" Arbok bit.

The Pidgey fainted.

"Oh no! You win! I'll have to train harder!" The youngster handed Jessie ¥275.

"I won!" screamed Jessie. She threw her arms around James. "Huzzah! We won something!"

"Yay!" replied James. He and Jessie assumed one-leg-in-the-air-victory-hug stance and grinned like maniacs. The youngster was forgotten. Parting, they continued down the route, carefully staying seven steps away from any other youngsters, gamblers, lasses, bug catchers, and the like. The scattered trees quickly grew denser as they neared the end of the Route 11. Finally, it seemed as if they were in a forest. Jessie pointed this out to James, interrupting their loud and out of tune singing of Pokérap.

"A forest?!" he exclaimed in reply, "Look at the tree! It's so scary!"

Jessie rolled her eyes. "No, it's not."

"Yes it is! And there might be Onix! And… and Scyther! And Muk!"

"Oh my," Jessie sarcastically replied.

"Onix and Scyther and Muk, oh my!" James chanted. Jessie joined him the second time. "Onix and Scyther and Muk, oh my! Onix and Scyther and Muk, oh my! Onix and Scy-aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!"

A roar had echoed through the forest, causing Jessie and James to hit fear hug mode in less than three frames.

"Wh-wh-what was that?!" stammered James.

"I don't know. Let's just get out of these woods as fast as possible!"

Running as fast as they could, Jessie and James raced along the snaking path between the trees. Slowly, the trees began to thin out, then suddenly stopped. The forest path became the long wooden bridge that was route 12.

Abruptly halting her running, Jessie gasped, "Oh my God."

Beyond the bridge was water as far as the eye could see. But what had caused Jessie to gasp was the sunset. The deep red sun hung low in the sky, like a plump, ripe peach ready for picking. Behind it trailed every color of the rainbow. The entire sky was an artist's palette. It was indescribably gorgeous. Jessie walked up to the bridge's railing and, resting her arms on it, stared at the kaleidoscopic sky. She looked back at James. "It's so beautiful!"

__

So are you! Say, "So are you!" screamed a part of James's mind. He didn't though. It didn't seem right for the moment, plus it was cheesy. Instead, he walked up to Jessie and placed his hand on her arm, showing that he agreed. She looked up at his, smiling. The wind picked up and blew her dangling hair all around James. He grinned.

__

Now, Jessie thought, _It's perfect: the sun, the mood, everything. Now._ Taking a deep breath, Jessie closed her eyes and leaned forward. Her lips passionately met James's.

James was *amazed.* He had always had a crush on Jessie, but he never dreamed that she liked him too. He assumed she did though, since she was kissing him right then and there. James had no other choice but to return the affection. Shutting his eyes, he wrapped his arms around Jessie's waist and leaned into the kiss. Jessie let her arms drift behind James's neck as the sun sank into the sea.


	7. Confessions

Chapter 7 ~ Confessions

Chapter 7 ~ _Confessions_

(Author's Note: WARNING! This is the mushy, gushy part of my story. It also tends to be kind of dumb in some parts. Just thought I'd warn ya… ^-^;;)

When the kiss was finally broken, Jessie and James stood nose to nose, dreamy and blushing, overcome by a rush of emotions. Their eyes danced and sparkled as their senses caught up with what had just happened.

Jessie, being the first to come to, spoke. "James," she sighed. She closed her eyes and let a smile trickle back onto her face. Tilting her head down, she thought about what she was about to do. Finally, she lifted her head and looked deep into James's eyes. "I love you."

James raised his eyebrows. "You do?"

With a lop-sided grin, Jessie nodded. "I have from the beginning… and I will till the end."

James hugged her close. His lips brushed her cheek as he turned his head and whispered in her ear, "I love you too, Jessie."

His breath tickled her ear and her face cracked into the widest smile yet. She hugged him even tighter and rested her head on his shoulder. James buried his face in Jessie's hair. Strawberries. Her hair smelled like strawberries. It was the scent of the body spray that Jessie sprayed in her hair every day. It was that night that the scent became one of James's favorites.

The pair swayed back and forth to unheard music as they stood on the dock under the full moon.

Content, Jessie's thoughts drifted back 24 hours. Back when they were dancing on the St. Stephen. She had rested her head on his shoulder and wished they could've stayed like that forever. That she could confess her burning love for James. It all seemed so distant now. Back when she refused to admit – to herself or anyone else – that she loved James. When she was afraid of ruining her tough-girl reputation by admitting she needed someone. Now that it was over and done with, she felt like a huge weight had been lifted from her shoulders. (Cliché! Cliché!) She yawned. Realizing she was tired, she told James it was getting late and suggested that they go to sleep near the edge of the forest. 

"But Jessie…" James whined, "That roar we heard earlier…"

"It's probably gone now, come on," said Jessie, brushing off the question with her usual air. She tugged James towards the edge of the forest. "Grass is more comfortable than wood anyway."

They found a soft patch of grass to sleep on and lied down next to each other on it. Jessie settled her head on James's chest and murmured, "Good night. Dream about me." She dozed off to the sound of his heartbeat. (Author's Note: I know what some of you are thinking. No, they did NOT! This story is PG!)

The next morning, Jessie was awoken by the sound of many Pokémon-Master-wannabes running through the forest looking for Pokémon. She opened her eyes and stared at the tree leaves above her, wondering why she was in a forest. Then the previous night's events came flooding back into her memory and she grinned. She wondered if it had all been a dream, since good things never happen to bad people, therefore they never happened to her. But no, her head was on his chest and his arm was around her shoulders. This assured her that the night had been real and she was even happier. Suddenly, she heard muttering beside her and looked over at James. Although still asleep, he was mumbling a song.

"Fighting evil by moonlight," he sang, "Winning love by daylight/With the Sailor Scouts to help fight,"

"James! James, wake up!" Jessie yelled, shaking him.

"She is the one, Sailor Moo- huh?" James's eyes fluttered open. "What happened? Where's the heart snatcher?"

"What are you talking about?"

James held his head. "In- in my dream… there were these Par-a-Pants walking through the forest singing the Sailor Moon theme song."

Jessie sighed. James always seemed to have dreams involving inanimate objects singing songs.

James continued, "Then Tuxedo Pants came and said that the heart snatchers were going to steal the Par-a-Pants's Pure Heart. But the pants said they didn't have a heart, they were just pants. Then Slowking came and said, "I could use some pants!" but the Par-a-Pants screamed, "That's not the point!" and-"

"It's all right James," Jessie comforted, "We'll get you some help. Come on. We have to get going." She stood up, ran her fingers through her hair, and yelled, "There's ants in my hair!" She ran screaming and waving her arms to a river which she promptly leaned into and scrubbed her hair. Fifteen minutes of scrubbing left Jessie's hair free of ants and anything else that was in it. Calmly, she stood and said, "We can go now."

James sighed and followed her out of the forest. They found themselves back on the bridge where last night's confessions had taken place. James's eyes darted to meet Jessie's. He smiled, then looked away. The rest of their walk to Route 13 was in silence. There, they encountered a series of fences with trainers at random places within them.

"I give up!" yelled Jessie, throwing her hands in the air, "Forget it! There have already been enough drastic mood changes, pointless additions, and stupid sentences to make a very long, bad movie or a cheap TV show, like "The Six Second Miracle!" Plus, we're still a bazillion miles from Cinnabar Island and the plot is going nowhere. We've been walking for page after page and what has gone on? Nothing! Well, we've kissed and confessed our love, but that's not the point I'm trying to make here. My point is that I don't want there to be another eight chapters before we actually get back to Cinnabar and by then out two-week vacation will be over and this will have been a long and meaningless story! Aargh!"

James began to applaud. "Well spoken! I agree!"

Suddenly, miraculously, an object began to slowly rise from the sea next to them. It seemed almost in slow motion, like Lassie and the other kid. Finally, the object was fully exposed. It was-

"The Meowth balloon?!" gasped Jessie and James simultaneously.

Yes, the Meowth balloon. It had somehow survived the sinking of the St. Stephen and floated over here.

"Thank you, Mondo!" Jessie squealed as she and James ran toward the balloon, which had conveniently dried off and landed on shore for their easy access. They boarded and lifted off, finally heading in the right direction.

***

Hours later, the ragged Meowth balloon was floating west, high over Kanto. Its two occupants were not chatting, plotting, or arguing as they normally were. Instead, they were engulfed as each contemplated their own thoughts and feelings.

James was slumped in a corner biting his nails.

Jessie stood on the opposite side, alternating between twirling her hair around her index finger and picking at the basket edge.

Now she's thinking, "This love thing is so much of a fuss."

And he's thinking, "There's really quite a thing between us."

Now she's thinking, "He really is a dear."

And he's thinking, "But what of our career?"

And she says, "Sigh."

And he says, "Cough Cough."

Well, it's been a long couple of days.

Now she's thinking, "I wish that he were more of a flirt."

And he's thinking, "I guess a little flirting won't hurt."

Now she's thinking, "For dinner we could meet."

And he's thinking, "We both have to eat."

And she says, "Ah-CHOO!"

And he says, "Bless you."

"Thanks."

James stood up and looked over the side of the basket. It was already 5:30 – dinner time. He was hungry. As luck would have it, they passed over a sign right then. It was an ad for Cinnabar Island's famous restaurant, "Restaurant Hungry." At the bottom of the sign, it read, "Sunday Early Bird Special! Dinner for two only $10.98!" As more luck would have it, today was Sunday and "early bird" was until 6.

"Wonderful!" thought Jessie.

"It's fate!" thought James.

Now she's thinking, "Restaurant Hungry… it has a nice ring." (Author's Note: FORESHADOWING!!!)

And he's thinking, "I might as well forget the whole thing."

The balloon was landed next to the restaurant.

Now she's thinking, "Should I take his arm?"

And he's thinking, "Well really, what's the harm?"

And she says, "Hungry?" Jessie held out her arm.

And he says, "Yeah." James hooked his arm in hers.

Together, they stepped out of the balloon and walked into Restaurant Hungry, both humming "Been a Long Day" from "How to Succeed in Business with out really trying."


	8. Roses, Rings, and Other Nice Things

Chapter 7 ~ Confessions

Chapter 8 ~ _Roses, Rings, and Other Nice Things_

"Two?" the maître d' asked when they entered.

Jessie and James both nodded and the maître d' grabbed two menus. Hooked elbows slid down to clasped hands as the pair was led to an empty table near the back of the restaurant. Memories of Café Brak sifted into their heads, but that seemed like a year ago. James pulled the chair out for Jessie and she sat down, mumbling a thanks and thinking about what a gentleman he was. She folded her hands in her lap and looked at James, who had seated himself across from her. James cleared his throat as if to say something, but didn't continue.

"So," Jessie said.

"So," James responded.

Silence engulfed them once more. Everything was so awkward and uncomfortable now that their love had been confessed. They simply sat staring at one another for who knows how long. Just sitting, staring, sitting, staring, sit-

"Hi! My name is Colleen and I'll be your server today."

Jessie and James both jumped at least two feet in the air.

Colleen continued, "And this is Tim." She gestured towards the tall man next to her. "He's in training, so he'll be helping me. Have you decided?"

Jessie and James looked up. Tim and Colleen stood next to them, a look of *inquiry* on their faces.

"N-no," Jessie stammered, fumbling open the menu, "We need a few more minutes." She flipped through the menu looking for something to eat. She didn't notice it was upside down. 

Tim and Colleen walked away and Jessie closed her menu.

"Look, James," she said, "We can't go on like this. Just because you know I love you and I know you love me shouldn't change anything. We have to start talking about _something_ or the author will have no story to write. Besides, that "Picture Perfect" song says _the best of lovers – the best of friends_. We can still be friends even though we're in love." Jessie smiled and James imitated the action. Then, he nodded. Jessie fished the rose she had bought in Vermilion City out of her inviso-bag and held it out to James. "Let's be the same as we always have, James."

His eyes lit with passion. "Thank you Jess. For the rose and the friendship insight." He grinned again and took the rose. Then, leaning over the table, they hugged each other.

Jessie and James settled back in their seats and picked up their menus, finally attempting to decide what to order.

"How is this restaurant famous if all they served is a variety of cooked Magikarp?!" Jessie exclaimed. (Author's note: Yes, I'm aware you can't eat Magikarp. I saw "Pokémon Shipwreck." I was asleep when I wrote this chapter and my brother Stephen already yelled at me. Gomen. Deal with it. Pretend Magikarp is edible. I'm babbling now, so back to the story.)

"They have Fried Coolimari," James noted, "And Cruelimari. They also have Steamed Shellder… that's it."

Jessie sighed, "Well, let's get some cooked karp then…" She skimmed the descriptions of the different variations.

Finally, they decided to get the steamed shellder appetizer. Jessie ordered karp sushi for her meal, and James got karp flambé.

Once Tim (who had come by himself this time) left, Jessie turned to James and said, "You know, that Tim guy is kinda hot. Not as hot as you, of course, but still…"

James's eyes got wide and he looked like he was trying hard not to laugh. "He's right behind you," he whispered.

Jessie's eyes grew wide also. She turned her head and, sure enough, he was cleaning off the table behind them. Her ears turned scarlet red and she said to James in a loud voice, "Not THAT Tim, Tim……… GOLD! From Pokémon Tech, remember him?"

"No," James said.

Jessie gave him a harsh look. "Yes, you do, James," she replied through gritting teeth.

James looked confused.

Jessie kicked him.

"Ow! Why'd you kick me, Jessie?"

Jessie held her head in her hands. "Forget it! Forget it!" she cried.

Tim gave her a funny look and walked away. (Author's note: I use these Author's Notes too much. But, just FYI, that Tim scene was based on a true story… ^_^;;)

To get her mind of the subject of Tim, James asked her, "Hey Jess, did you hear about the low fat Pokémon?"

Jessie put her elbow on the table and rested her chin in her hand. "No," she said, "What?"

"It was Caterpie!" James exclaimed.

Jessie blinked.

"Oh I… I mean Butterfree." James blushed.

After staring at her for a minute, Jessie squealed, "Oh! I get it! Low fat… butter free!" She began laughing.

Happy that his joke had had such an impact, he added, "Here's another one: What does a Pokémon with allergies say?"

"I don't know."

"Pik-ACHOO!"

Jessie burst into another fit of laughter. "That's ingenious, James!"

James looked at her and smiled as his heart melted. She was just so… lovable… adorable… beautiful… there was no word to describe it. Her eyes were squinted closed and her hand covered her mouth as she shook with laughter. Her hair fell sloppily over her shoulders, arms, and back, and in wisps across her face. The Old Navy shirt she was wearing was wrinkled and creased. But all of this put together made her the most gorgeous person in the universe. God, he loved her so much. James slid his hand into his pocket and fingered the contents of it. Suddenly, he had an idea. "I have to go to the bathroom," he announced.

If Jessie had been watching him instead of rolling in laughter, she would have noticed that he didn't go to the bathroom.

When James finally returned ten minutes later, Jessie had recovered from her fit of hysterics and was reading a book she had pulled out of her bag: Together Forever by Brittany "Ann's-husband-soon-to-be-father-of-Mamo-Chan" Sneddon. "That was an awfully long trip to the bathroom," she observed.

"Yeah… well…" James got a big sweatdrop. "What – What are you reading?" he asked to change the subject.

"Together Forever," Jessie simply replied.

James was perplexed as he sat down. "Didn't you read that last month?"

Jessie put the book away. "No, that was a different Together Forever."

"But wasn't it by the same author?"

"Yes."

"But why…" James shook his head. "Forget it."

"What? It's the Together Forever series," Jessie defended, "What do you read then?"

"I read the Peter the Wonder Bunny series, thank you very much."

Jessie stared at him. "What?!"

"You know," James began to sing, "Peter the wonder bunny aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis magical friends!"

"Each to his own," Jessie murmured, adding, "mental abilities," under her breath. But that's why she loved James. He was so childlike, so naïve, so innocent… so lovable!" Jessie sighed a happy little sigh.

They both drifted into their own little dream worlds.

Finally their food came. Colleen brought it. Jessie was convinced Tim was avoiding her, but did not comment on this. She did, however, comment, "This is nice!" in response to the food being under silver covers.

James did not lift his cover. He was waiting for Jessie to lift hers. She did, expecting to see her tasty karp sushi. But that's not what was on her plate.

Resting on the china was a rose, a ring with rubies and emeralds in the shape of a rose, and a placard that read "Will you marry me?" in James's best (read: sloppy) handwriting.

Jessie's hands flew up and covered her mouth. "Oh my God!" she gasped. She felt her eyes well up and her vision got blurry. It was the moment she had been waiting for for her entire life. Well, her entire life since she had met James. Her heart was beating faster and faster. The water filling up in her eyes overflowed and the tears of joy fell onto her lap. She looked up at James and nodded.

Leaning over the table, James lifted Jessie's hands off of her lips and kissed her. He picked up the ring from the platter and slid it onto her finger. He lifted his eyes to meet Jessie's. Her eyes were so deep, blue, and beautiful. He reached up and wiped the tears from them. Then, running his hand through her silken hair, he whispered simply, "I love you."

Jessie, still in silent shock, just smiled and nodded.

James settled back down in his seat. He took the cover off of his plate and licked his lips. "Yum!" he exclaimed. Lifting the karp sushi roll from the side of his plate, he put it onto Jessie's, next to the rose and the placard that were still there. "Eat, Jess," he said.

Jessie picked up her chopsticks and was about to eat her first piece of sushi when she came to a sudden realization and exclaimed, "We never got our appetizer!"

"Hey, you're right!" James noticed, a piece of fish still hanging out of his mouth.

"I don't really want it anymore anyway," Jessie said, glancing down at her ring. Then she popped a piece of sushi into her mouth. "Once we have our meal, it's kind of pointless to get an appetizer," she explained between bites.

"I guess so…" said James thoughtfully. "Hey Jess, did you hear the one about the Drowzee?" James asked, returning to his jokes.

Dinner was success for Jessie and James, having accomplished everything from a polite conversation to getting engaged. Upon leaving Restaurant Hungry, they decided the best thing to do was to return to the hotel, since that was the point of the last five chapters. Jeez, what a waste. Anyway… Jessie and James FINALLY arrived at the Cinnabar Island Red Roof Inn. The roof was actually cinnabar colored, since that is the name of the town, but cinnabar is a shade of red so… I'm getting off topic again.

"Do you have a key?" Jessie asked James when they reached their room, whose number they had miraculously remembered.

"No, I thought you did," replied James.

"Well, I don't." Jessie turned and knocked on the door.

Scampering sounds were heard inside the room. Whispers. The scraping of a chair against the door as (assumedly) Meowth went to see who was there. More whispers. Jessie gave James a questioning look. He just shrugged. Eventually, the door opened and a vaporeon scuttled out. Meowth stood at the door, holding it open. He was smiling.

"Welcome back Jess, Jimmy!" he chorused.

"I'm not even going to ask," Jessie told James. They walked into the room.

Meowth closed the door behind them. "So how many courses _was_ that meal?"

"Huh?" James started confusedly at Meowth.

"You left…" he thought for a moment and counted on his claws, "two days ago, not countin' today, for dinner in Celadon City. So it musta been a huge meal." He noticed Jessie's hair that still hung down to her knees from when she got it wet after the St. Stephen incident. "And why's your hair down, Jess?"

Not wanting to retell 97 pages, Jessie just stated, "It's a long, long story, involving boats, forests, weasels, bridges…" She paused to brush a strand of hair out of her face. Her rose ring glinted.

"And a ring?" Meowth *inquired,* interested.

Jessie glanced at her hand. "Oh yeah." Her ears turned the same color as the ring.

"Finally!" Meowth exclaimed, "I was wonderin' when youse two would finally admit it. It was so obvious!" James blushed now too. "Ya know, we only got ten vacation days left, so when a ya getting' hitched?"

"We only have ten days?!" Jessie's eyes bugged out of her head. "How are we supposed to plan a wedding in ten days?! No, less. We actually have to HAVE the wedding! Aargh!" She held her head in her hands.

James, who had been quite silent, was now, once again, confused. "Why can't we get married after vacation?"

"Da boss won't approve of youse two bein' togeda any more den he did Butch and Cassidy."

"Butch and Cassidy are a couple?" questioned Jessie, shocked.

Meowth rolled his eyes. "Doncha ever go on da internet? Dere's tons a sites dedicated to Neoshipping! Course, not as many as dere are for Rocketshipping."

"What-shipping?" Jessie asked.

"Neoshippers are people who believe Butch and Cassidy are togeda. And Rocketshippers are the you-and-James-as-a-couple cult."

"We have a cult?" Jessie was sparkly-eyed.

"Well, not really a cult, but lotsa followers, believas. Like the author of dis story which, by da way, is now 100 written pages long."

"Wow! 100 pages about us!" James was now in heaven as well.

Meowth interrupted their starry-eyed fantasies. "Getting back to da story, you only have eight days to plan dis wedding."

"Oy no!" shrieked Jessie. "First thing tomorrow, back to Celadon, shopping capital of Kanto, to try on wedding dresses!"

"Ohhhhhh noooooo…" groaned James and Meowth.


	9. Last Minute Plans

Chapter 9 ~ _Last Minute Plans_

No one has truly been under stress until she has had to plan her dream wedding in eight days. Jessie was under stress.

"Do you think the top of this is too frilly? I don't know. I think it's too frilly," Jessie ran her hands over the collar. "Yes, it's much too frilly." She paused and glanced to the saleslady. "Right?"

The saleslady just smiled and nodded. All she wanted was her commission.

Jessie hurried back into the dressing room, ripped off the too-frilly dress (adding it to the pile of 73 other too-something dresses), and pulled on another dress. She came out and, after examining herself in the mirror, said, "Mmm… it looks too… white to me. How about you? I – I mean… does – does it look too white to you?"

"Well, miss," the saleslady explained, "Most wedding dresses are white."

"No no no no no. This one's **too** white."

The saleslady smiled and nodded again.

James and Meowth, meanwhile, were searching for wedding rings.

"Why don't ya just get simple gold bands?"

James examined a diamond-inlaid ring. "Jessie won't like that."

"You already got her a fancy-shmancy engagement ring!"

"And not she needs a 'fancy-shmancy' wedding ring."

Meowth sighed. "Are you getting' an inscription too?"

"Of course!"

Meowth fell sideways.

"Hey Meowth, what do you think of this one?" James inquired. He held up a platinum, gold, and diamond band.

Meowth's mouth fell open. "How much is that?! $1,000,000?!"

"No, $999,999," James corrected him, "We can't carry more than that, remember?"

Meowth fell sideways again. "Ya need to buy two, remember?"

"Oh yeah." He put down the ring.

Back at the wedding dress store, Jessie stared at the saleslady. "What do you mean there are no more dresses?"

"Just what I said. You tried on all of the dresses in the store."

"ALL of them?!" Jessie looked faint.

"Well… you haven't tried on that one yet." The saleslady pointed towards a dark corner of the store, where a single dress hung in the shadows.

Jessie's eyes lit up. "Okay!" She ran and snatched the dress from the hook, then raced into the dressing room. Coming out in the "hidden" dress, she gazed into the mirror, scrutinizing her reflection. The top of the dress resembled Princess Jasmine's shirt (from _Aladdin)_ – a strapless style, but with sleeve-like bands resting on the arms, just below her shoulders. The rest of the top was tight, with a low waist. The skirt looked almost exactly like Belle's (from _Beauty and the Beast_), except that it was white. The whole dress was shimmery white and sparkled when Jessie turned. Matching gloves went up slightly past her elbows. She ran her fingers through her hair until she couldn't reach anymore and smiled. Spinning in a circle and watching the skirt billow out around her, she cried, "It's perfect!"

Coincidentally, at the exact same moment, James also cried, "It's perfect!" He held his perfect "ring" above his head and struck a pose.

"It's… uh… not a ring, Jimmy boy."

James looked down at the contents of his hand, then at Meowth. "So?"

"You don't get married by exchanging pens!" Meowth jumped up and scratched James's face.

"Ouch! Meowth, that hurts!" He rubbed his face and the cuts disappeared. "This is the two piece pen set. Haven't you seen that commercial on television? The boy and the girl are dancing strangely. Then, they boy kneels and asks the girl, "Will you marry me?" and she says, "Can I touch it?" and he says, "It's your ring," and the girl happily takes the pen as she says, "I'll write my marriage with it." In the next scene, they get married. Finally, the girl is leaning on the boy's shoulder as he holds the two piece pen set in front of the camera and the boy says, "Buy the Two Piece Pen Set and have your honey attached to you… LITERALLY!" See, Meowth, that's even their slogan!" James pointed to the side of the pen case, where it read, in sparkly gold letters: "Have Your Honey Attached To You… LITERALLY!"

Meowth blinked. "You watch too much TV, James."

"And me can get an inscription and have a stone set into the top! Jessie will love this! And it's only…" He paused to check the price tag. "$2,000! For a pen with an inscription?!" He looked closer. "No wait. There's a decimal point here. So it's $20! We can afford this!" He danced in a happy little circle.

At the bridal shop, Jessie was also spinning in happy little circles. "I feel pretty! Oh so pretty!" she sang in a strange Puerto Rican accent, "I feel pretty and witty and bright! And I pity any girl who isn't me tonight!"

Jessie continued to sing the next charming verse. Previous to the song, she had donned white platform sandals and a shimmery lace veil. She had pulled James's rose out of nowhere and suddenly burst into song.

The saleslady was somewhat frightened. "Uh, Ma'am? If you're going to sing, you should sing the song playing on the store radio which is Bro-"

"See the pretty girl in that mirror there?" Jessie asked, interrupting her. The only mirror was in another department.

"What mirror?" The saleslady was confused, "Where?"

"Who can that attractive girl be?" Jessie continued, referring to her "reflection" in the imaginary mirror.

"Which? What? Where? Who?" The saleslady continued to try to find the mirror.

"Such a pretty face, such a pretty dress, such a pretty smile, such a pretty me!" Jessie spun in more circles.

The saleslady gave up searching for the mirror and just sighed.

Jessie sashayed from side to side while continuing to sing, "I feel stunning and entrancing! Feel like running and dancing for joy! For I'm loved by a pretty, wonderful boy!" She struck a Spanish-style pose.

Clapping slowly, the saleslady led Jessie back to the changing rooms. "All right. Beautiful. Change back to your normal outfit now. If you wish to purchase this dress, it's $500. Okay? Okay." She pushed Jessie into the room and closed the door. Holding her head in her hand, the saleslady sighed a mushroom cloud. 

Finally, having made their "perfect" purchases, Jessie, James, and Meowth all met at the Restaurant for lunch. Unfortunately, the cook was taking a break, so they had to leave.

"Haven't they been on break for three years? Since the release of Pokémon Red and Blue?" Jessie pondered.

James thought about this. "Yes. I think you're right." They all sighed. There is much sighing in this chapter.

The trio decided to go out for pizza. They ordered a plain pie and took seats at the table by the window. James sat actually facing the window, while Jessie and Meowth had their backs to it. While they were all happily munching away, James suddenly spat his mouthful of pizza back onto his plate. Jessie looked at it with disgust as James stared wide-eyed out the window, pointed, and screamed, "Oh my God, a walking keyboard!"

This was a shock to Jessie and Meowth. It wasn't every day that there was a keyboard walking down the street. They whirled around, hoping to catch a glimpse of this fascinating event. A truck drove by. There was no keyboard in sight. They turned back around. 

Jessie whacked James with a frying pan. "You big retard! There's no walking keyboard!"

"But there was!" James protested, rubbing his head, "I swear!"

"You got some serious issues, Jimmy boy," commented Meowth.

After finishing lunch, they spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around Celadon City – shopping capital of Kanto. They bought dinner, ice cream, cake, and bubbles (instead of the usual rice). Then, they went back to their hotel. Since they had one of those suite-ish rooms, there was a stove there. James decided he would cook.

"But you don't have any cooking skill points!" Jessie pointed out.

"So?" James shrugged. He turned to the stove with the pot of food.

Two minutes later, the stove was on fire. The fire alarm shrieked loudly. Jessie, James, and Meowth all stood three feet away from the bonfire, waving their arms above their heads and screaming, "FIRE!" in unison.

After the garbage can next to the stove had also caught on fire, a yellow-jacketed fireman burst through the door. He sprayed the fire and it went out. The stove had been reduced to a pile of ashes. The garbage pail was perfectly fine. The fireman left. Jessie, James, and Meowth calmed down.

During the chaos, another guest in the hotel had come over to see what was going on. Jessie greeted her at the door and, after explaining that they were okay, attempted to befriend her. After Jessie had finally achieved a mere 25 percent of the points needed for friendship, James walked over, slapped the lady on the face, walked down the hall to her room, took food out of her mini-fridge, ate it, and returned to their room. The woman cried and left.

Jessie was very angry. "James! We could've made a family friend there!"

James just yelled that he had a very low comfort level and went to sit down.

Since they hadn't yet had their meal, Jessie made some microwave dinners. As they ate, they chatted about peace, robbers, and flowers, and gained social points.

Next, the trio decided to watch some TV. They only got four stations at this hotel: Action, Horror, Romance, and Cartoons. The Romance Channel was chosen and they all watched it together.

After the second hour in front of the television set, James was singing along with the repeating commercials and Jessie's sides hurt from laughing so hard at the shows. "Spa-duh-spa-duh-zoobeedoobeedoobeedoobee-spaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" James chorused with the ad.

Jessie suddenly sat up. "Ohmigosh! Do you know what I just realized, James?"

James sat up too. "The meaning of that commercial?!" He was excited. He had been trying to figure that out for the last hour-and-a-half.

"No." James was disappointed. "I realized," continued Jessie, "That we don't have any family friends!"

Now James was confused. "What? What does that mean?"

"It means that, no matter how much we prepare, nobody is going to come to our wedding!"

James gasped.

"So," Jessie went on, "We could get married whenever, because we don't have to wait for our guests…" Her eyes were shining as she looked at James. "So let's get married right now!"

James choked on his spit. He coughed and his throat became clear again. "Now?! But it's 11 o'clock at night!"

"So?"


	10. The Wedding

Chapter 10 ~ _The Wedding_

The next thing they both knew, they were kneeling, surrounded in candles, on the room's balcony. Jessie was in her gorgeous new dress and James was in a brand new tuxedo. Their hands were clasped and they gazed into each other's eyes. James began the recitation of vows.

"I, James, take thee, Jessica."

"I, Jessica, take thee, James."

"For richer or for poorer."

"In sickness and in health."

"To love and to honor."

"To hold and to keep."

"From each sun to each moon."

"From tomorrow to tomorrow."

"From now to forever."

"'Til death do us part."

Meowth carried the two piece pen set over to Jessie and James. They each picked up one.

"With this ring," James recited, slipping a pen between Jessie's fingers, "I thee wed."

"With this ring," Jessie repeated, reciprocating the actions of James's hand, "I thee wed."

"You're now man an' wife," Meowth proclaimed. He looked at James. "You may kiss the bride."

James leaned forward slightly and their lips met.

__

'Finally,' thought Jessie, _'The most anticipated moment of my life.'_ She smiled and the kiss was broken. "We're married!" she cried and embrace James.

As James hugged her back, he grinned happily. _'At last! There is no way I can be forced to marry Jessiebelle now! I'm already married to my true love,' _he thought.

They let go of each other and stood up. Meowth blew bubbles at them as they walked over to the kitchen area of their room. In the mini-refrigerator was a bottle of champagne and a small wedding cake. They poured glasses of champagne for each other and cut the cake, while Meowth took pictures. When they all had glasses and slices in front of them and were seated around the tiny table, Meowth raised his glass.

"Seeing as I'm your only weddin' guest and therefore da default Best Man, I hafta make a toast. I've known youse guys for a long time and, all dat time I knew ya was in love. But neither of ya admitted to it. Now ya finally did and look where it brought ya! So I wish youse two joy, luck, happiness, wealth, friendship, and love in all your years to come. To you!"

"To us!" Jessie and James agreed. They all drank a sip of the champagne.

When they put down their glasses, James picked up a slice of the cake in his hand, "Hey Jess," he said.

Jessie turned to him and asked, "What, Ja-"

Before she could finish her sentence, James shoved the cake into her mouth. Well, into her mouth and all over her face.

"Why you!" Jessie screamed after swallowing. She picked up another piece of cake and hurled it at James's head.

A food fight ensued and, afterward, James and Jessie were covered in chocolate cake bits and white frosting.

Jessie looked down at herself. "This is 'Dry Clean Only' too!" She sighed. "I have to get changed."

"Me too!" James said, glancing at his tux, then at Jessie. Their thoughts connected and they smiled slowly and raced into their section of the room, slamming the partition shut behind them.

Meowth trudged over to the sofa and, grinning, fell asleep.

***

The next day, they all slept in and ended up eating breakfast at one o'clock in the afternoon.

"Shouldn't this technically be considered lunch?" questioned Jessie.

James thought for a moment. "No, because it's the first meal of the day. We'll have lunch later."

"Okay," Jessie responded, then sank into a thoughtful silence. A few minutes later, she spoke up again. "Our wedding. It wasn't exactly my dream one, you know? There was no priest, no guests, no DJ, no big fancy party… It didn't even take all eight vacation days to plan!" She looked up at James, placed a hand on his, and smiled. "But it was wonderful. Even though it wasn't my dream, it was perfect."

James smiled too.

After breakfast, Jessie went to watch TV while James read the paper. Meowth went out.

Jessie wiped her brow. "This hotel is so hot! I can't live another day without air conditioning."

James looked up from the paper. "Says tomorrow's gonna be hotter."

"Hotter?!" Jessie looked faint.

"Like yesterday," James explained.

"Yesterday?" Jessie came to sit beside James. "Yesterday you said you'd call Sears."

James shrugged, "I'll call today."

"You'll call now," Jessie demanded.

Looking up powerfully, James agreed, "I'll call now." He walked over to the hotel room phone and dialed the 1-800 Sears number. He did not, however, use a dial-out prefix.

A girl answered the phone. "Hello?" She was very loud.

"Hi, I'd like a Sears air conditioner for my room."

"What?" screamed the girl.

"An air conditioner," James repeated, "A Sears one."

The girl sarcastically replied, "Yeah, and I want a Kohl's air conditioner."

"Chael's air conditioner?" James was confused.

"Haha! Yes! Chael's air conditioner!" the girl giggled.

"Who's Chael?" asked James.

"Duh! Michael Sneddon!" The girl sighed. "He was Tony in West Side Story in my school. I named my Neopet 'Michael Sneddon' after him. It was a Gelert, but I got a Magical Meerca Plushie and now he's a Meerca! I'm very upset. You know what else made me upset. The gingerbread cookie! They were so mean to it! It made me cry! And then-"

"Look, is this Sears or not?" interrupted James.

The girl laughed. "Sears?! Why would this be Sears? This is hotel room 180 of the Cinnabar Island Red Roof Inn!"

"Oh. Oh!" James slapped himself in the head. "I forgot the dial-out prefix!" He hung up the phone on the still-babbling girl. "Forget Sears." He looked at Jessie, who was fanning herself with her hand, and suddenly smiled. "We're going somewhere." He grabbed a black sheet and pushed Jessie out the door.

It wasn't until they were in the Meowth balloon and lifting off that Jessie asked, "Where are we going?"  
"Sore wa himitsu desu!" James whispered. At Jessie's questioning look, he added, "It's a secret." He picked up the black cloth. "This is to add the element of surprise." He tied it around her eyes as a blindfold.

Jessie giggled, "A surprise? I can't wait!"

As they floated over Kanto, the couple chatted amiably about whatever couples chat about. Several hours were spent drifting in the balloon. Finally, they arrived at James's chosen location at exactly the time he wanted to be there – sunset.

He landed the balloon in a forest clearing and climbed out, helping Jessie since she was blindfolded. Holding her hand, he led her out onto a wooden bridge. James lifted her hands so they were resting on the railing facing the water. Then, he took off her blindfold.

Jessie immediately gasped at the collection of colors laid out in front of her. "Oh, James," she whispered, her eyes welling with tears. She turned to face him, her hair blowing around him, surrounding him. "It's so beautiful!" Changing her tone, she added, "Thank you." She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him like she had that night when she first confessed her love. It seemed like ages ago, but it was, in fact, only a few days. She drew back to look into his deep emerald eyes, then hugged him. "I love you."

"I love you too," James responded. They both turned to watch the sun glint its last rays of the day. Jessie snuggled up next to James and, as the orange-red orb sank disappeared into the sea, she smiled and said, "I hope tomorrow is sunny too."

.THE END.


	11. Epilogue

__

Epilogue

Jessie, James, and Meowth all quit Team Rocket when their paid vacation ended. Jess and James both got respectable jobs that adhered to their talents much better. They became quite rich. They bought a mansion on one of the Orange Islands where they resided with their baby daughter. Meowth never got married. He stayed with Jessie, James, and the baby in their mansion as a member of the family. Together, they all lived happily ever after.


End file.
